Print edition: 
MANHATTAN — The first road game of any basketball season is always a challenge.
K-State's trip to Blacksburg, Va., for a meeting Sunday with Virginia Tech is no exception. Based on past memories he has of coaching in Cassell Coliseum, Frank Martin expects it to be one of the hardest tests the Wildcats will face before Big 12 play begins.
He started thinking about it the moment K-State defeated George Washington on Thursday.
"It's a hard, hard building to play in," Martin said. "If we don't get better offensively in the next two days, we're going to learn a hard lesson."
Sophomore guard Will Spradling, who took a recruiting visit to Virginia Tech before choosing K-State, told his teammates the same thing.
"It gets real loud in there," Spradling said.
Behind freshman forward Thomas Gipson, who is averaging a team-high 12.8 points, the Wildcats have been successful at times on offense. That's the main reason they are 4-0. But they haven't been consistent.
Spradling has scored the majority of his points in the second half, junior forward Rodney McGruder has struggled from the outside and K-State is still trying to incorporate Martavious Irving and Jamar Samuels to the starting lineup after both missed time. That's the main reason K-State has won three of its games in ho-hum fashion.
Martin said he wishes he had scheduled an extra home game to prepare for Virginia Tech. But making the extra pass, moving without with the ball and creating driving lines will all be key Sunday, nonetheless.
"What we need to learn is that bad offense leads to bad defense," Martin said. "That spirit and energy that we play with on defense disappears when our offense is bad."
